welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. here's a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. the head of japan's nuclear authority had some harsh words for the operator of fukushima daiichi. he's demanding the company step up measures to prevent more contaminated water from leaking. ministers from 21 pacific rim economies are in the indonesian island of bali. they're trying to forge closer ties across the region.

and fewer and fewer young japanese are exercising their right to vote, so some young activists here are looking for inspiration from a young american. engineers at the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant have resumed testing of filtration systems after operations were suspended for half a day. they say a glitch in the control system of a holding tank caused the decontamination system to automatically shut down. an alarm went off on friday morning indicating something was wrong with the advanced liquid processing system. the engineers found the control system of the holding tank was sending out two contradictory signals about whether it could contain more water or not. they will suspend operations from saturday to check the system and make any adjustments. an estimated 400 tons of

groundwater is seeping into the damaged facilities at the plant every day, and is becoming contaminated. the top official of japan's nuclear regulation authority secretary has some harsh words for the president of tokyo electric power company. he's demanding the company move quickly to prevent contaminated water leaks at the fukushima plant. tepco president said to his office on friday. >> translator: you're not managing the situation at the nuclear plant properly. i'm really concerned. i'm worried that this kind of leakage may occur again. >> ikeda said he wants tepco to send personnel from other power plants to assist with the work at the fukushima plant. >> translator: i'm terribly sorry for the mistakes we have made. we mishandled the leaking

wastewater, and that is affecting the environment. >> he said tepco had recently changed its system for managing contaminated wastewater, and that workers have not yet learned to use it. he said he would employ every possible resource to deal with the problem. tepco workers pumped too much water into a storage sewage tank on wednesday -- into a storage tank, rather, on wednesday, resulting in an overflow. they detected high levels of radioactive substances in the water that spilled out of the tank. prime minister shinzo abe says his government will do all it can to deal with the accumulating radioactive water. abe made the remark in a meeting with a panel of main governing lawmakers. he said containing the contaminated water is a pressing matter at a time when japan is reconsidering its energy policy.

abe said the radioactive water issue will be a major topic of debate in the upcoming diet session. the international atomic energy agency is about to lend a hand to the workers in fukushim to offer advice on decontamination in and around the plant. the international nuclear watchdog said 16 experts from inside and outside the agency will be in japan from october 14th through the 21st. it's the second iaea team to be sent to support cleanup in fukushima since the 2011 accident. their mission will be to check whether the decontamination work is being carried out properly. they'll also offer recommendations. the cleanup work is falling behind schedule, partly because of a lack of progress in securing space to store contaminated soil from the surrounding communities.

the u.s. government shutdown is having repercussions for the country's diplomacy. president barack obama has canceled his plans to attend next week's economic summits in indonesia and brunei. instead, he will remain in washington, and continue urging lawmakers to pass a bill that would reopen the government. obama was to attend the asia pacific cooperation forum in bali. he was then to chair the free trade talks there. the president's next scheduled stop was the east asia summit in brunei. a white house spokesman said obama phoned the leaders of the two host countries to express his regrets. obama had already canceled visits to malaysia and the philippines. and japan's economic revitalization minister said the tpp member nations agreed to speed up the talks and conclude the nations within this year, even without president obama's presence.

>> translator: ministers from several nations have said we should not lose the momentum to reach an agreement because of president obama's absence. we do not have much time until tuesday's summit, but we will make efforts to work out a framework agreement in time. japan's bank will investigate how it ended up extending loans to organized crime groups. the bank approved 230 loans totaling about $2 million to those groups. deputy president is mizuho spoke to reporters and expressed

sincere apologies. >> translator: while we have an important duty to cut ties with organized crime groups, we were too lax to check these problem loans. we would like to express our deep regrets. >> he went on to explain why the bank failed to cancel the loans for more than two years, even after it discovered them. he said the bank was unable to take swift action because a credit company first examined the borrower's credibility. he added that the initial screenings were not as strict as mizuho's. he said the new panel will look into how the bank became involved in the business with organized crime groups and work out measures to prevent similar cases. he said the bank sent an

improvement plan. a cosmetic firm is fielding complaints from an increasing number of customers at home and abroad. thousands of people reported problems after using the skin whitening products. spokespersons say they have confirmed nearly 14,000 cases in japan, and 72 others in ten asian countries and territories. nearly 5,000 consumers have reported serious symptoms. they include multiple blotches and marks that are five centimeters or larger. some victims are preparing to sue the company to claim compensation. ministers from 21 rim economies have gathered in bali for the apec forum. participants to discuss ways to resolve differences and strengthen ties across the region.

here is the report. >> reporter: foreign trade ministers from the apec member economies are expected to discuss plans for major infrastructure projects like ports and highways. the japanese delegation will offer the country's help to build efficient power plants and roads and railways to protect towns against disasters. but the discussions will not only be about building physical structures. they will also talk about ways to reach their goal of reducing by 2020. the ministers are expected to discuss speeding up agreements including the transpacific partnership.

the tpp summit will also be held in bali, but it's being overshadowed by u.s. president barack obama's decision to cancel his trip due to the u.s. government shutdown. tpp negotiators are trying to work out a basic agreement before the summit. divisions between them run deep. but many remain hopeful. >> translator: all the participating nations will make their best efforts toward reaching the goal. the bali meeting is going to be a key stamp on the path to a successful agreement. >> reporter: the leaders of the asia pacific region face huge challenges as they attempt to hammer out a decision to protect their own interests at same time. the results of the efforts will be revealed at next week's summit.

nhk world, bali, indonesia. here are the latest market figures. china and malaysia have set an aggressive goal to boost their trading relationship. we're following the story in bangkok. >> chinese president xi jinping held talks with the malaysian president on friday. the two leaders agreed to triple

bilateral trade by 2017 and build a comprehensive strategic partnership. the deal reflects china's goal of strengthen ties with fast-growing economies in southeast asia. chinese president xi arrived in malaysia on thursday for a three-day visit. malaysia has a third largest economy in southeast asia, and the prime minister announced an ambitious new trade goal. >> in today's meeting, we discussed about how we can achieve the new targets in terms of our two-way trade between our two countries, which is set at 160 billion u.s. dollars by the year 2017. >> malaysia is one of several asean members in dispute with china over islands in the oil-rich south china sea. even so, the importance of their economic relationship is

undisputed. china has overtaken the united states and is now malaysia's top trading partner. xi said closer economic ties would benefit the entire region. >> translator: our china-malaysia friendship has gone from strength to strength. bilateral cooperation is booming. people-to-people exchanges have become increasingly close. cooperation between china and malaysia has not only benefited our people, but it's also c conducive to regional stability and development. >> the chinese president has signaled his intention to strengthen cooperation with asean members by trying to shift focus from territorial disputes to economic ties that can produce real benefits. china is just one of several global economic powers seeking closer ties with asean. other countries, including japan, and the united states, are also jostling for access to this massive ten-nation market.

home to 600 million consumers. southeast asia will host two mul multilateral summits next week. in indonesia and east asia summit in brunei. china is working to take full advantage of both occasions. its top two leaders are gearing up diplomatic activities with asean members. chinese premier will visit brunei, thailand and vietnam from wednesday through october 15th. president xi jinping visited beijing earlier this week before his trip to malaysia. japanese prime minister shinzo abe chose southeast asia as his first overseas destination after taking office last december, a sign of his intention to strengthen ties with asean. this year, he's visited vietnam, thailand, and indonesia in january. myanmar in may and malaysia, singapore and the philippines in july. next week, abe will visit

indonesia again for apec. as well as brunei for the asean meetings. he's also scheduled to visit cambodia and laos by the end of december, which means abe would have visited every asean member country in the course of this year. u.s. president barack obama has suffered a setback on the diplomatic front. a consequence of the partial shutdown of the u.s. government. amid a congressional budget standoff. that led obama to cancel his visit to malaysia, the philippines, indonesia and brunei. he'll be represented instead by secretary of state john kerry. it's a blow to an administration that has given more attention to the asia-pacific region to keep china's growing military presence in check. >> the united states engagement in the region is a process, it's not an event. you know, i mean, of course, it would be wonderful to have the president of the united states participate in a forum like apec that we are about to have, but at the same time, the nature of

the u.s. engagement in the region has been -- is a continuous, you know, not event-based fact. >> the u.s. serves as a key geopolitical counterweight to china, particularly for countries that have territorial disputes with beijing. experts warn obama's absence from the two key multilateral summits could have geopolitical consequences for the united states. myanmar is under increasing pressure to change its constitution before the presidential elections scheduled for 2015. opposition leader aung san suu kyi has been calling for reform of the law which effectively blocks her from running for president. now the united states has also backed such a move. u.s. state department spokesperson jason rebel, says constitutional reform would help make the election fair. the constitution bans people who have a foreign spouse or foreign children from running for

president. aung san suu kyi's two sons are british citizens. washington says amending the constitution would move myanmar closer towards international democratic norms. the u.s. statement comes after aung san suu kyi also appealed for reform, saying that without the constitutional change, the country would not be on a democratic path. the noble laureate party won elections in 1990, but the military prevented her party from taking power and placed her under house arrest for the most of the next two decades. she was freed in 2010 as the country began to implement the democratic reforms that have led to the end of most international sanctions. that wraps up our bulletin in bangkok. the foreign ministers of japan and indonesia have agreed that southeast asian countries should cooperate on new rules to address territorial disputes in the south china sea. several members of asean

including vietnam and the philippines are involved in such rows with china. foreign minister met his counterpart on bali. he explained asean nations are discussing with china a set of legally binding rules to set disputes in the china sea. he claims sovereignty over several disputed islands. he said all concerned parties should abide by international law and refrain from taking unilateral action. he added asean nations need to be united to a code of conduct. citizens in japan enjoy a democracy, but fewer and fewer young people enjoy their right to vote. some activists seem to reengage them and want to know how. so they reached out for inspiration from a young american. nhk world has the story.

>> reporter: a nonpartisan group encourages young americans to participate in politics. he came to a symposium in tokyo to tell about his ideas and experience. first is to get out the youth vote during the 2008 presidential election, which swept barack obama into the white house. he urged young americans to cast votes across the country. 25,000 youngsters registered to vote. >> young people are going to be alive longer than anyone else. so anything that happens -- any decision that's made, any person who's elected is going to have far more impact on my life.

>> reporter: a japanese activist is learning from his experience. he's encouraging young people to participate in politics. the lower house election was around 60%. among people in their 20s, it was less than 40%. the situation was similar in the 2012 u.s. presidential race. still, analysts say young americans are still engaging more in politics than young japanese. for instance, they say american university students hold rallies on campuses. he hopes he can help him figure out how to get more of japan's youngsters involved.

>> translator: i don't think young japanese support any particular politicians or parties. how can we connect them with politics? that's another question i want to ask the teams. >> reporter: harada and other members of his group sat down with burrstein in tokyo. >> obama said, okay, i'm going to commit time to spending time engaging with young people. so he visited more college campuses, spoke to more audiences of young people than any other person running for president has in recent history in america. and that's why young people supported him so much. >> reporter: obama won almost 70% of the youth vote in 2008. that support helped propel him to victory. harada said burstein helped him

see that getting out the youth vote can help transform politics. >> translator: burstein had a big impact on me. now i feel like we need to work harder to engage more young people in politics. >> reporter: burstein sees a sea of change in japan. those seeds need to be nurtured if they are to take root. that's a challenge for harada in the years ahead. people in japan's southern prefecture of okinawa are preparing for a storm. for more, we turn to our weather reporter, rachel ferguson. rachel, give us an update. >> all right, here it is. we start with the video showing you exactly what's going on here. the waves are really kicking up now. dangerous waves could result in

rip currents and rogue waves, along with storm surge. that's all possible along the coastline. the wind gusts have been reported at 101 kilometers an hour. that was in okinawa city. and looks like we now have a typhoon. so that's what we've been waiting for, is to see the system strengthen to that typhoon status from the severe tropical storm stages. here it is, you can see the eye in the cloud there. and it's going to be heading on its way towards northern taiwan, and beyond that, southeastern china. we'll give you the updated statistics first. we have the numbers here. feto now a strong typhoon now. the winds are at 126 kilometers per hour, with gusts up to 180. we'll expect it to maintain that status as it moves in towards the northeast -- northwest, i should say. and after making landfall in southeastern china, it's going to swerve up towards the north there. so coming through the shanghai area, and in towards north

korea. so you're going to be dealing with the storm after sunday, into monday. we have not only one, but two storms to talk about. we have a new tropical storm today, heading in almost exactly the same path as this last storm. but it isn't expected to be as powerful. that's certainly good news. however, after feto has done its damage and moved through, we really don't want to be seeing any more heavy rain so soon after. but this storm is the one we'll be watching the beginning of next week. things are looking pretty dry in the north of the region. there will be showers here in tokyo, 21 degrees for the high. meanwhile, bright sunshine and temperatures not too bad either in seoul, beijing, shanghai. you're going to be seeing cloudy skies, but staying dry, and a nice day in hong kong. 30 degrees and sunny. on into the americas. tropical storm here, too. let's go to karen in the gulf of mexico. heading now towards the gulf

coast, it looks like it's going to be coming quite close to louisiana coastline there. but the landfall looks like it's going to be the florida panhandle sunday night. so conditions are starting to deteriorate here as well. winds are sustained at 95 kilometers an hour. it's moving north-northwest at 17 kph. you'll be getting a great deal of rain from this. the areas in the red, 200 millimeters-plus. at the moment it's all coming down over the water, but as it nears, you'll start to feel the very heavy showers coming in pretty much along a very good portion of the coast. our next storm is going to be a little bit different. we have snow to the back of it. and severe thunderstorms to the front. here it is. heavy snow from the dakotas, right down into colorado. you can see about 30 centimeters of snow. to the east of that front line, it's going to be severe. some heavy rain, maybe even 50 millimeters when all is said and done, enough to cause some flooding. and there's also the potential

for tornadoes. there was one that touched down in the last couple of hours. so you'll need to watch out for these conditions. on friday, the temperatures will be coming down. denver 6 degrees. 7 in win epig. 31 in oklahoma city. these temperatures are going to come down. chicago falls to 16 degrees by sunday. des moines, 29, down to 15. a whole 21-degree drop between friday and saturday in omaha. here's your extended forecast.

that's "newsline" for this hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo.

from all of us here at nhk worl thanks for joining us.